North Beach Citizens – San Francisco, California
North Beach Citizens has a drop-in center that provides meals and counseling. It also has a multifaceted program to help low-income and homeless people in San Francisco. The program provides housing assistance, a food pantry, and a Street Beautification program.
Marquita
I’m not a bad person. I’ve just
had bad things happen to me.
I had a stalker, someone I met who
eventually tried to kill me.
I came here to work for two years
and to go to school in Portland. I was
going to become a physical therapist.
I was making a lot of money, I was
doing really well. Everything’s good
and then I met this guy. He got me
fired from both my jobs, got me
kicked out of my house because of
him stalking me. Eventually he tried
to kill me. That was 15 years ago.
It’s been this gradual process. I’d grown
up being a worker bee my whole life,
but trying to get my way out of it has
been hard, really hard. I want to work.
I was put on disability finally for
trauma and PTSD. It’s been a blessing,
but even that’s stressful because
it’s another system. Like right now
I am up for review, I might lose my
disability and if that happens, I don’t
know what’s going to happen to me. I
might end up on the street again.